Replace worn equipment components
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 32 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Repairing and Maintaining Mechanical Equipment (4.A.3.b.4) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 32 occupations that perform it.
- Maintain and repair laboratory equipment.
- Adjust, repair, rework, or replace parts or assemblies to ensure proper operation.
- Rework, repair, or replace damaged parts or assemblies.
- Replace worn dies when products vary from specifications.
- Repair, maintain, and replace parts on dies.
- Replace defective blades or wheels, using hand tools.
- Change worn cutting tools, using wrenches.
- Repair or replace machine parts, using hand tools, or notify engineering personnel when corrective action is required.
- Replace worn tools, and sharpen dull cutting tools and dies, using bench grinders or cutter-grinding machines.
- Replace worn tools, using hand tools, and sharpen dull tools, using bench grinders.
- Dismantle machines or equipment, using hand tools or power tools to examine parts for defects and replace defective parts where needed.
- Repair or replace damaged molds, pipes, belts, chains, or other equipment, using hand tools, hand-powered presses, or jib cranes.
- Change worn machine accessories, such as cutting tools or brushes, using hand tools.
- Repair, replace, and maintain furnace equipment as needed, using hand tools.
- Replace worn parts and adjust equipment components, using hand tools.
- Remove and replace worn or broken machine parts, using hand tools.
- Perform equipment maintenance tasks such as replacing needles, sanding rough areas of needles, or cleaning and oiling sewing machines.
- Perform routine equipment maintenance such as cleaning and lubricating machines or replacing broken needles.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
32 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers
- Biofuels Processing Technicians
- Chemical Plant and System Operators
- Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators
- Cutters and Trimmers, Hand
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Engine and Other Machine Assemblers
- Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders
- Glass Blowers, Molders, Benders, and Finishers
- Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Helpers--Production Workers
- Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Machinists
- Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Physics Teachers, Postsecondary
- Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Power Plant Operators
- Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
- Sewing Machine Operators
- Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders
- Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Repair tools or equipment”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.